200 


WASHINGTON 


THE  WISDOM  OF  WASHINGTON 


Bag's  SHorfc  Series 


THE  WISDOM  OF 
WASHINGTON 

President  of  the    United  States 


SELECTED    BY 

JAMES   PARTON 


BOSTON 
L.  C.  PAGE  fef  COMPANY 

MDCCCC 


Copyright,  1871 
BY  JAMES  R.  OSGOOD  &  Co. 


Colonial  lirtss 

Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  C.  H.  Simonds  &  Co. 
Boston,  U.  S.  A. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

The  Character  of  George  Washington,  as  delineated 

by  Thomas  Jefferson 7 

r.  Virtue  and  Happiness II 

2.  Importance  of  our  Experiment  in  Government  .         .11 

3.  His  Feeling  upon  re-entering  Public  Life   .         .         .  __  12 

4.  Presidential  Etiquette 13 

5.  On  being  asked  to  appoint  a  Nephew  to  Office  .         .16 

6.  The  Death  of  his  Mother 16 

7.  His  Last  Letter  to  Dr.  Franklin         .         .         .         .17 

8.  Man  not  Responsible  to  Man  for  his  Faith         .         .18 

9.  His  Early  Distrust  of  the  French  Revolution     .         .     19 

10.  To  the  Father  of  two  Pretty  Girls  who  had  waited 

upon  him 20 

1 1 .  Appointment  to  Office 20 

12.  Preparations  for  War 21 

13.  His  Opinion  of  the  new  Government         .         .         .21 

14.  Upon  his  being  accused  of  Pride       .         .         .         .21 

15.  Washington  as  a  Landlord 24 

1 6.  Advice  to  a  young  Orphan  Niece        ....     25 

17.  Upon  the  Estrangement  of  Jefferson  and  Hamilton    .     27 

1 8.  The  Same  Subject 28 

19.  Putting  it  to  the  Test 30 

20.  Hamilton  and  Jefferson  again     .         .         .         .         .     31 

21.  His  Guiding  Principle  as  President    .         .         .         .     32 

22.  Upon  an  Improved  Threshing-machine       .         .         .32 

23.  Newspapers 33 

24.  Rent  of  Land  then  34 


2137S60 


6  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

25.  His  Aid  to  the  Victims  of  the  Yellow  Fever  in  Phila- 

delphia     34 

26.  Appointments  to  Office 35 

27.  Price  of  Wild  Land 35 

28.  The  President  is  Sarcastic  touching  the  Newspapers  36 

29.  A  National  University 36 

30.  Emigration 36 

31.  No  Infallible  Guides 37 

32.  Utility  of  a  Potato  Crop 37 

33.  Cabinet  Appointments 38 

34.  He  fears  no  Disclosures 38 

35.  His  Foreign  Policy     .......  38 

36.  The  House  of  Representatives  not  the  Treaty-making 

Power 39 

37.  He  endeavors  to  procure  the  Release  of  Lafayette     .  39 

38.  Non-intervention 41 

39.  General  Education     .        ...        .        .        .        -41 

40.  The  Public  Credit 41 

41.  National  Antipathies  and  Attachments       .         .         -42 

42.  Our  True  Foreign  Policy 44 

43.  Nations  grant  no  Favors 44 

44.  A  Military  Academy  .......  44 

45.  High  Service  should  be  justly  compensated        .         .  44 

46.  Price  of  Land  in  Virginia  ......  45 

47.  Upon  leaving  the  Presidency 46 


THE 
CHARACTER  OF   GEORGE  WASHINGTON, 

AS    DELINEATED   BY   THOMAS   JEFFERSON. 

THINK  I  knew  General  Washington  in- 
timately and  thoroughly ;  and  were  I 
called  on  to  delineate  his  character,  it 
should  be  in  terms  like  these. 
His  mind  was  great  and  powerful,  without  being 
of  the  very  first  order  ;  his  penetration  strong, 
though  not  so  aciite  as  that  of  a  Newton,  Bacon, 
or  Locke ;  and,  as  far  as  he  saw,  no  judgment  was 
ever  sounder.  It  was  slow  in  operation,  being 
little  aided  by  invention  or  imagination,  but  sure 
in  conclusion.  Hence  the  common  remark  of  his 
officers  of  the  advantage  he  derived  from  councils 
of  war,  where,  hearing  all  suggestions,  he  selected 
whatever  was  best ;  and  certainly  no  general  ever 
planned  his  battles  more  judiciously.  But  if  de- 
ranged during  the  course  of  the  action,  if  any 
member  of  his  plan  was  dislocated  by  sudden  cir- 
cumstances, he  was  slow  in  readjustment.  The 
consequence  was  that  he  often  failed  in  the  field, 
and  rarely  against  an  enemy  in  station,  as  at  Bos- 


8     THE  CHARACTER  OF  WASHINGTON. 

ton  and  York.  He  was  incapable  of  fear,  meet- 
ing personal  dangers  with  the  calmest  unconcern. 
Perhaps  the  strongest  feature  in  his  character  was 
prudence,  never  acting  until  every  circumstance, 
every  consideration,  was  maturely  weighed ;  re- 
fraining if  he  saw  a  doubt,  but,  when  once  decided, 
going  through  with  his  purpose,  whatever  obstacles 
opposed.  His  integrity  was  most  pure,  his  justice 
the  most  inflexible  I  have  ever  known,  no  motives 
of  interest  or  consanguinity,  of  friendship  or  hatred, 
being  able  to  bias  his  decision.  He  was,  indeed, 
in  every  sense  of  the  words,  a  wise,  a  good,  and  a 
great  man.  His  temper  was  naturally  irritable 
and  high-toned ;  but  reflection  and  resolution  had 
obtained  a  firm  and  habitual  ascendency  over  it. 
If  ever,  however,  it  broke  its  bonds,  he  was  most 
tremendous  in  his  wrath.  In  his  expenses  he  was 
honorable,  but  exact ;  liberal  in  contributions  to 
whatever  promised  utility  ;  but  frowning  and  un- 
yielding on  all  visionary  projects  and  all  unworthy 
calls  on  his  charity.  His  heart  was  not  warm  in 
its  affections ;  but  he  exactly  calculated  every 
man's  value,  and  gave  him  a  solid  esteem  propor- 
tioned to  it.  His  person,  you  know,  was  fine,  his 
stature  exactly  what  one  would  wish,  depoilment 
easy,  erect,  and  noble ;  the  best  horseman  of  his 
age,  and  the  most  graceful  figure  that  could  be 
seen  on  horseback.  Although  in  the  circle  of  his 
friends,  where  he  might  be  unreserved  with  safety, 
he  took  a  free  share  in  conversation,  his  colloquial 
talents  were  not  above  mediocrity,  possessing  nei- 
ther copiousness  of  ideas  nor  fluency  of  words. 
In  public,  when  called  on  for  a  sudden  opinion,  he 


TIIE   CHARACTER  OF   WASHINGTON.  9 

was  unready,  short,  and  embarrassed.  Yet  he 
wrote  readily,  rather  diffusely,  in  an  easy  and  cor- 
rect style.  This  he  had  acquired  by  conversation 
with  the  world,  for  his  education  was  merely  read- 
ing, writing,  and  common  arithmetic,  to  which  he 
added  surveying  at  a  later  day.  His  time  was 
employed  in  action  chiefly,  reading  little,  and  that 
only  in  agriculture  and  English  history.  His  cor- 
respondence became  necessarily  extensive,  and, 
with  journalizing  his  agricultural  proceedings, 
occupied  most  of  his  leisure  hours  within  doors. 
On  the  whole,  his  character  was,  in  its  mass,  per- 
fect, in  nothing  bad,  in  few  points  indifferent ;  and 
it  may  truly  be  said,  that  never  did  nature  and 
fortune  combine  more  perfectly  to  make  a  man 
great,  and  to  place  him  in  the  same  constellation 
with  whatever  worthies  have  merited  from  man  an 
everlasting  remembrance.  For  his  was  the  singu- 
lar destiny  and  merit  of  leading  the  armies  of  his 
country  successfully  through  an  arduous  war  for 
the  establishment  of  its  independence  ;  of  conduct- 
ing its  councils  through  the  birth  of  a  government, 
new  in  its  forms  and  principles,  until  it  had  settled 
down  into  a  quiet  and  orderly  training,  and  of  scru- 
pulously obeying  the  laws  through  the  whole  of  his 
career,  civil  and  military,  of  which  the  world  fur- 
nishes no  other  example. 

To  DOCTOR  WALTER  JONES,  January  2,  1814. 
6  Jefferson's  Works,  286. 


THE 


WISDOM    OF   WASHINGTON, 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


1.  VIRTUE  AND  HAPPINESS. 

HERE  is  no  truth  more  thoroughly  es- 
tablished, than  that  there  exists,  in  the 
economy  and  course  of  nature,  an  indis- 
soluble union  between  virtue  and  hap- 
piness, between  duty  and  advantage,  between  the 
genuine  maxims  of  an  honest  and  magnanimous 
policy  and  the  solid  rewards  of  public  prosperity 
and  felicity. 

Inaugural  Speech  to  both  Houses  of  Congress,  April  30,  1789. 
12  Sparks,  4. 


2.    IMPORTANCE    OF    OTJR    EXPERIMENT   IN    GOVERN- 
MENT. 

HE  preservation  of  the  sacred  fire  of  lib- 
erty, and  the  destiny  of  the  republican 
model  of  government,  are  justly  consid- 
ered as  deeply,  perhaps  as  finally,  staked 
on  the  experiment  intrusted  to  the  hands  of  the 

American  people. 

To  the  same,  same  date.    12  Sparks,  4. 


12  WORDS   OF   WASHINGTON. 

3.    HIS  FEELING  UPON  RE-ENTERINQ  PUBLIC  LIFE. 

HEN  I  had  judged,  upon  the  best  appre- 
ciation I  was  able  to  form  of  the  circum- 
stances which  related  to  myself,  that  it 
was  my  duty  to  embark  again  on  the 
tempestuous  ocean  of  public  life,  I  gave  up  all 
expectations  of  private  happiness  in  this  world. 
You  know,  my  dear  sir,  I  had  concentred  all 
my  schemes,  all  my  views,  all  my  wishes,  within 
the  narrow  circle  of  domestic  enjoyment. 

Though  I  flatter  myself  the  world  will  do  me 
the  justice  to  believe,  that,  at  my  time  of  life  and 
in  my  circumstances,  nothing  but  a  conviction  of 
duty  could  have  induced  me  to  depart  from  my 
resolution  of  remaining  in  retirement,  yet  I  great- 
ly apprehend  that  my  countrymen  will  expect 
too  much  from  me.  I  fear,  if  the  issue  of  public 
measures  should  not  correspond  with  their  san- 
guine expectations,  they  will  turn  the  extrava- 
gant, and  I  might  almost  say  undue,  praises  which 
they  are  heaping  upon  me  at  this  moment  into 
equally  extravagant,  though  I  will  fondly  hope 
unmerited  censures. 

So  much  is  expected,  so  many  untoward  circum- 
stances may  intervene,  in  such  a  new  and  critical 
situation,  that  I  feel  an  insuperable  diffidence  in 
my  own  abilities.  I  feel  in  the  execution  of  the 
duties  of  my  arduous  office  how  much  I  shall 
stand  in  need  of  the  countenance  and  aid  of  every 
friend  to  myself,  of  every  friend  to  the  revolution, 
and  of  every  lover  of  good  government. 

To  EDWAKD  RUTLEDGE,  May  6, 1789.    10  Sparkt,  I. 


PRESIDENT  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES.       13 
4.    PRESIDENTIAL  ETIQUETTE. 

HILE  the  eyes  of  America,  perhaps  of  the 
world,  are  turned  to  this  government, 
and  many  are  watching  the  movements 
of  all  those  who  are  concerned  in  its  ad- 
ministration, I  should  like  to  be  informed,  through 
so  good  a  medium,  of  the  public  opinion  of  both 
men  and  measures,  and  of  none  more  than  myself ; 
not  so  much  of  what  may  be  thought  commend- 
able parts,  if  any,  of  my  conduct,  as  of  those 
which  are  conceived  to  be  of  a  different  complexion. 
The  man  who  means  to  commit  no  wrong  will 
never  be  guilty  of  enormities ;  consequently  he 
can  never  be  unwilling  to  learn  what  are  ascribed 
to  him  as  foibles.  If  they  are  really  such,  the 
knowledge  of  them  in  a  well-disposed  mind  will  go 
half-way  towards  a  reform.  If  they  are  not  errors, 
he  can  explain  and  justify  the  motives  of  his 
actions. 

At  a  distance  from  the  theatre  of  action,  truth 
is  not  always  related  without  embellishment,  and 
sometimes  is  entirely  perverted,  from  a  miscon- 
ception of  the  causes  which  produce  the  effects 
that  are  the  subjects  of  censure.  This  leads  me 
to  think  that  the  system  which  I  found  it  indis- 
pensably necessary  to  adopt  on  my  first  coming  to 
this  city  might  have  undergone  severe  strictures, 
and  have  had  motives  very  foreign  from  those  that 
govern  me  assigned  as  causes  thereof.  I  mean, 
first,  returning  no  visits ;  secondly,  appointing 
certain  days  to  receive  them  generally,  not  to  the  ex- 
clusion, however,  of  visits  on  any  other  days  under 


14  WORDS    OF   WASHINGTON. 

particular  circumstances ;  and,  thirdly,  at  first 
entertaining  no  company,  and  afterwards  (until  I 
was  unable  to  entertain  any  at  all)  confining  it  to 
official  characters.  A  few  days  evinced  the  neces- 
sity of  the  two  first  in  so  clear  a  point  of  view, 
that,  had  I  not  adopted  it,  I  should  have  been 
unable  to  attend  to  any  sort  of  business,  unless  I 
had  applied  the  hours  allotted  to  rest  and  refresh- 
ment to  this  purpose  ;  for  by  the  time  I  had  done 
breakfast,  and  thence  till  dinner,  and  afterwards 
till  bedtime,  I  could  not  get  relieved  from  the 
ceremony  of  one  visit,  before  I  had  to  attend  to 
another.  In  a  word,  I  had  no  leisure  to  read  or 
to  answer  the  despatches  that  were  pouring  in 
upon  me  from  all  quarters. 

With  respect  to  the  third  matter,  I  early  received 
information,  through  very  respectable  channels, 
that  the  adoption  thereof  was  not  less  essential 
than  that  of  the  other  two,  if  the  President  was 
to  preserve  the  dignity  and  respect  that  were  due 
to  the  first  magistrate.  For  a  contrary  conduct 
had  involved  the  late  presidents  of  Congress  in  in- 
superable difficulties,  and  the  office,  in  this  respect, 
in  perfect  contempt ;  for  the  table  was  considered 
as  a  public  one,  and  every  person  who  could  get 
introduced  conceived  that  he  had  a  right  to  be 
invited  to  it.  This,  although  the  table  was  always 
crowded  (and  with  mixed  company,  and  the  Presi- 
dent considered  in  no  better  light  than  as  a 
matire  d'hdtel),  was  in  its  nature  impracticable, 
and  as  many  offences  given  as  if  no  table  had  been 
kept. 

The  citizens  of  this  place  were  well  acquainted 


PRESIDENT  OF   THE   UNITED  STATES.       15 

with  this  fact,  and  the  principal  members  of  Con- 
gress in  both  Houses  were  so  well  convinced  of  the 
impropriety  and  degrading  situation  of  their  Pres- 
ident, that  it  was  the  general  opinion  that  the 
President  of  the  United  States  should  neither  give 
nor  receive  invitations ;  some  from  a  belief,  inde- 
pendent of  the  circumstances  I  have  mentioned, 
that  this  was  fundamentally  right,  in  order  to 
acquire  respect.  But  to  this  I  had  two  objections, 
both  powerful  in  my  mind  :  first,  the  novelty  of 
it  I  knew  would  be  considered  as  an  ostentatious 
mimicry  of  sovereignty  ;  and,  secondly,  that  so 
great  a  seclusion  would  have  stopped  the  avenues 
to  useful  information  from  the  many,  and  made 
me  more  dependent  on  that  of  the  few.  But  to 
hit  on  a  discriminating  medium  was  found  more 
difficult  than  it  appeared  to  be  at  first  view  ;  for, 
if  the  citizens  at  large  were  begun  with,  no  line 
could  be  drawn ;  all  of  decent  appearance  would 
expect  to  be  invited,  and  I  should  have  been 
plunged  at  once  into  the  evil  I  was  endeavoring 
to  avoid.  Upon  the  whole,  it  was  thought  best 
to  confine  my  invitations  to  official  characters  and 
strangers  of  distinction.  This  line  I  have  hitherto 
pursued.  Whether  it  may  be  found  best  to  ad- 
here to  it,  or  depart  from  it,  must  in  some  measure 
be  the  result  of  experience  and  information. 

So  strongly  had  the  citizens  of  this  place  imbibed 
an  idea  of  the  impropriety  of  my  accepting  invita- 
tions to  dinner,  that  I  have  not  received  one  from 
any  family  (though  they  are  remarkable  for  hos- 
pitality, and  though  I  have  received  every  civility 
and  attention  possible  from  them)  since  I  came  to 
10 


16  WORDS  OF  WASHINGTON. 

the  city,  except  to  dine  with  the  governor  on  the 
day  of  my  arrival ;  so  that,  if  this  should  be  ad- 
duced as  an  article  of  impeachment,  there  can  be  at 
least  one  good  reason  adduced  for  my  not  dining 
out ;  to  wit,  never  having  been  asked  to  do  so. 

To  DAVID  STUART,  July  26, 1789.    10  Sparks,  17. 

6.    ON  BEING  ASKED  TO  APPOINT  A  NEPHEW  TO 
OFFICE. 

OU  cannot  doubt  my  wishes  to  see  you 
appointed  to  any  office  of  honor  or  emol- 
ument, in  the  new  government,  to  the 
duties  of  which  you  are  competent ;  but, 
however  deserving  you  may  be  of  the  one  you  have 
suggested,  your  standing  at  the  bar  would  not 
justify  my  nomination  of  you  as  attorney  to  the 
federal  District  Court  in  preference  to  some  of  the 
oldest  and  most  esteemed  general  court  lawyers  in 
your  own  State,  who  are  desirous  of  this  appoint- 
ment. My  political  conduct  in  nominations,  even 
if  I  were  uninfluenced  by  principle,  must  be  ex- 
ceedingly circumspect  and  proof  against  just  criti- 
cism ;  for  the  eyes  of  Argus  are  upon  me,  and  no 
slip  will  pass  unnoticed,  that  can  be  improved  into 
a  supposed  partiality  for  friends  or  relations. 
To  BUSHROD  WASHINGTON,  July  27,  1789.  10  Sparks,  24. 

6.    THE  DEATH  OF  HIS  MOTHER. 

WFUL  and  affecting  as  the  death  of  a 
parent  is,  there  is  consolation  in  knowing 
that  Heaven  has  spared  ours  to  an  age 
beyond  which  few  attain,  and  favored  her 


PRESIDENT   OF   THE   UNITED  STATES,      17 

with  the  full  enjoyment  of  her  mental  faculties,  and 
as  much  bodily  strength  as  usually  falls  to  the  lot 
of  fourscore.  Under  these  considerations,  and  a 
hope  that  she  is  translated  to  a  happier  place,  it 
is  the  duty  of  her  relatives  to  yield  due  submission 
to  the  decrees  of  the  Creator.  When  I  was  last  at 
Fredericksburg,  I  took  a  final  leave  of  my  mother, 
never  expecting  to  see  her  more. 
To  MRS.  BETTY  LEWIS,  September  13, 1789.  10  Sparks,  31. 

7.    HIS  LAST  LETTER  TO  DR.  FRANKLIN. 


HE  affectionate  congratulations  on  the 
recovery  of  my  health,  and  the  warm 
expressions  of  personal  friendship  which 
were  contained  in  your  letter  of  the  16th 
instant,  claim  my  gratitude.  And  the  considera- 
tion that  it  was  written  when  you  were  afflicted 
with  a  painful  malady  greatly  increases  my  obliga- 
tion for  it.* 

*  Dr.  Franklin's  Letter. 

"  PHILADELPHIA,  16  September,  1789. 
"  DEAR  SIR,  —  My  malady  renders  my  sitting  up  to  write 
rather  painful  to  me ;  but  I  cannot  let  my  son-in-law,  Mr.  Bache, 
part  for  New  York,  without  congratulating  you  by  him  on  the 
recovery  of  your  health,  so  precious  to  us  all;  and  on  the  grow- 
ing strength  of  our  new  government  under  your  administration. 
For  my  own  personal  ease,  I  should  have  died  two  years  ago; 
but,  though  those  years  have  been  spent  in  excruciating  pain,  I 
am  pleased  that  I  have  lived  them,  since  they  have  brought  me  to 
see  our  present  situation.  I  am  now  finishing  my  eighty-fourth 
year,  and  probably  with  it  my  career  in  this  life;  but  in  what- 
ever state  of  existence  I  am  placed  hereafter,  if  I  retain  any 
memory  of  what  has  passed  here,  I  shall  with  it  retain  the 
esteem,  respect,  and  affection,  with  which  I  have  long  been, 
my  dear  friend, 

"  Yours  most  sincerely, 

"  B.  FRANKLIN." 


18  WORDS   OF   WASHINGTON. 

Would  to  God,  my  dear  sir,  that  I  could  con- 
gratulate you  upon  the  removal  of  that  excruci- 
ating pain  under  which  you  labor,  and  that  your 
existence  might  close  with  as  much  ease  to  your- 
self as  its  continuance  has  been  beneficial  to  our 
country  and  useful  to  mankind ;  or  if  the  united 
wishes  of  a  free  people,  joined  with  the  earnest 
prayers  of  every  friend  to  science  and  humanity, 
could  relieve  the  body  from  pains  or  infirmities, 
that  you  could  claim  an  exemption  on  this  score. 
But  this  cannot  be,  and  you  have  within  yourself 
the  only  resource  to  which  we  can  confidently 
apply  for  relief,  a  philosophic  mind. 

If  to  be  venerated  for  benevolence,  if  to  be  ad- 
mired for  talents,  if  to  be  esteemed  for  patriotism, 
if  to  be  beloved  for  philanthropy,  can  gratify  the 
human  mind,  you  must  have  the  pleasing  consola- 
tion to  know  that  you  have  not  lived  in  vain. 
And  I  flatter  myself  that  it  will  not  be  ranked 
among  the  least  grateful  occurrences  of  your  life 
to  be  assured,  that,  so  long  as  I  retain  my  memory, 
you  will  be  recollected  with  respect,  veneration, 
and  affection  by  your  sincere  friend. 

September  23,  1789.    10  Sparks,  32. 

8.  MAN  NOT  RESPONSIBLE  TO  MAN  FOR  HIS  FAITH. 

HILE  men  perform  their  social  duties 
faithfully,  they  do  all  that  society  or  the 
state  can  with  propriety  demand  or  ex- 
pect ;  and  remain  responsible  only  to 
their  Maker  for  the  religion,  or  modes  of  faith, 
which  they  may  prefer  or  profess. 

Address  to  the  Quakers,  October,  1789.    405  Sparks,  12. 


PRESIDENT   OF    THE   UNITED  STATES.       19 


9.  HIS  EARLY  DISTRUST  OF  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION. 

HE  revolution  which  has  been  effected  in 
France  is  of  so  wonderful  a  nature  that 
the  mind  can  hardly  realize  the  fact.  If 
it  ends  as  our  last  accounts,  to  the  first 
of  August,  predict,  that  nation  will  be  the  most 
powerful  and  happy  in  Europe  ;  but  I  fear,  though 
it  has  gone  triumphantly  through  the  first  par- 
oxysm, it  is  not  the  last  it  has  to  encounter  before 
matters  are  finally  settled.  In  a  word,  the  revolu- 
tion is  of  too  great  a  magnitude  to  be  effected  in  so 
short  a  space,  and  with  the  loss  of  so  little  blood. 
The  mortification  of  the  king,  the  intrigues  of  the 
queen,  and  the  discontent  of  the  princes  and  no- 
blesse, will  foment  divisions,  if  possible,  in  the 
National  Assembly  ;  and  they  will  unquestionably 
avail  themselves  of  every  faux  pas  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  constitution,  if  they  do  not  give  a  more 
open,  active  opposition.  In  addition  to  these,  the 
licentiousness  of  the  people  on  one  hand,  and  san- 
guinary punishments  on  the  other,  will  alarm  the 
best-disposed  friends  to  the  measure,  and  contrib- 
ute not  a  little  to  the  overthrow  of  their  object. 
Great  temperance,  firmness,  and  foresight  are  ne- 
cessary in  the  movements  of  that  body.  To  forbear 
running  from  one  extreme  -to  another  is  no  easy 
matter ;  and,  should  this  be  the  case,  rocks  and 
shelves,  not  visible  at  present,  may  wreck  the  ves- 
sel, and  give  a  higher  toned  despotism  than  the 
one  which  existed  before. 

To  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS,  October  13,  1789. 
10  Sparks,  39. 


20  WORDS  OF   WASHINGTON. 

10.  TO  THE  FATHER  OF  TWO  PRETTY  GIRLS  WHO  HAD 
WAITED  UPON  HIM. 

EING  informed  that  you  have  given  my 
name  to  one  of  your  sons,  and  called 
another  after  Mrs.  Washington's  family, 
and  being  moreover  very  much  pleased 
with  the  modest  and  innocent  looks  of  your  two 
daughters,  Patty  and  Polly,  I  do  for  these  reasons 
send  each  of  these  girls  a  piece  of  chintz ;  and  to 
Patty,  who  bears  the  name  of  Mrs.  Washington, 
and  who  waited  more  upon  us  than  Polly  did,  I 
send  five  guineas,  with  which  she  may  buy  herself 
any  little  ornaments  she  may  want,  or  she  may 
dispose  of  them  in  any  other  manner  more  agree- 
able to  herself.  As  I  do  not  give  these  things  with 
a  view  to  have  it  talked  of,  or  even  to  its  being 
known,  the  less  there  is  said  about  the  matter,  the 
better  you  will  please  me ;  but,  that  I  may  be 
sure  the  chintz  and  money  have  got  safe  to  hand, 
let  Patty,  who  I  dare  say  is  equal  to  it,  write  me 
a  line  informing  me  thereof,  directed  to  "  The  Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States  at  New  York."  I  wish 
you  and  your  family  well,  and  am  your  humble 
servant. 

November  8,  1789.    10  Sparlu,  48. 

11.   APPOINTMENT  TO  OFFICE. 

N  every  nomination  to  office  I  have  en- 
deavored, as  far  as  my  own  knowledge 
extended,    or   information  could  be   ob- 
tained, to  make  fitness  of  character  my 
primary  object.     If  with  this  the  peculiar  necessi- 


PRESIDENT  OF   THE   UNITED  STATES.       21 


ties  of  the  candidate  could  be  combined,  it  has 
been  with  me  an  additional  inducement  to  the 
appointment. 

To  JOSEPH  JONES,  November  30, 1789.    10  Sparks,  67. 

12.   PREPARATIONS  FOR  WAR. 


FREE  people  ought  not  only  to  be 
armed,  but  disciplined ;  to  which  end  a 
uniform  and  well-digested  plan  is  requi- 
site. 

Speech  to  both  Houses  of  Congress,  January  8,  1790. 
12  Sparks,  8. 


13.   HIS  OPINION  OF  THE  NEW  GOVERNMENT. 

HAT  the  government,  though  not  actu- 
ally perfect,  is  one  of  the  best  in  the 
world,  I  have  little  doubt.  I  always  be- 
lieved that  an  unequivocally  free  and 
equal  representation  of  the  people  in  the  Legisla- 
ture, together  with  an  efficient  and  responsible 
Executive,  was  the  great  pillar  on  which  the 
preservation  of  American  freedom  must  depend. 

To  CATHARINE  MACACLAY  GRAHAM,  January  9,  1790. 
10  Sparks,  70. 

14.  UPON  HIS  BEING  ACCUSED  OF  PRIDE. 

N  a  letter  of  last  year,  to  the  best  of  my 
recollection,  I  informed  you  of  the  mo- 
tives which  compelled  me  to  allot  a  day 
for  the  reception  of  idle  and  ceremonious 
visits  (for  it  never  has  prevented  those  of  socia- 
bility and  friendship  in  the  afternoon,  or  at  any 


22  WORDS  OF   WASHINGTON. 

other  time) ;  but  if  I  am  mistaken  in  this,  the 
history  of  this  business  is  simply  and  shortly  as 
follows.  Before  the  custom  was  established,  which 
now  accommodates  foreign  characters,  strangers, 
and  others,  who,  from  motives  of  curiosity,  respect 
to  the  Chief  Magistrate,  or  any  other  cause,  are 
induced  to  call  upon  me,  I  was  unable  to  attend 
to  any  business  whatsoever;  for  gentlemen,  con- 
sulting their  own  convenience  rather  than  mine, 
were  calling  from  the  time  I  rose  from  breakfast, 
often  before,  until  I  sat  down  to  dinner.  This,  as 
I  resolved  not  to  neglect  my  public  duties,  re- 
duced me  to  the  choice  of  one  of  these  alterna- 
tives, either  to  refuse  them  altogether,  or  to  ap- 
propriate a  time  for  the  reception  of  them.  The 
former  would,  I  well  knew,  be  disgusting  to 
many  ;  the  latter  I  expected  would  undergo  ani- 
madversion and  blazoning  from  those  who  would 
find  fault  with  or  without  cause.  To  please  every- 
body was  impossible.  I  therefore  adopted  that  line 
of  conduct  which  combined  public  advantage  with 
private  convenience,  and  which  in  my  judgment 
was  unexceptionable  in  itself.  That  I  have  not 
been  able  to  make  bows  to  the  taste  of  poor  Colonel 
B.  (who,  by  the  by,  I  believe  never  saw  one  of  them) 
is  to  be  regretted,  especially  too,  as,  upon  those 
occasions,  they  were  indiscriminately  bestowed, 
and  the  best  I  was  master  of.  Would  it  not  have 
been  better  to  throw  the  veil  of  charity  over  them, 
ascribing  their  stiffness  to  the  effects  of  age,  or  to 
the  unskilfulness  of  my  teacher,  rather  than  to 
pride  and  dignity  of  office,  which  God  knows  has 
no  charms  for  me  1  For  I  can  truly  say,  I  had 


PRESIDENT  OF   THE  UNITED  STATES.      23 

rather  be  at  Mount  Vernon,  with  a  friend  or  two 
about  me,  than  to  be  attended  at  the  seat  of  gov- 
ernment by  the  officers  of  state  and  the  repre- 
sentatives of  every  power  in  Europe. 

These  visits  are  optional.  They  are  made  with- 
out invitation.  Between  the  hours  of  three  and 
four  every  Tuesday  I  am  prepared  to  receive 
them.  Gentlemen,  often  in  great  numbers,  come 
and  go,  chat  with  each  other,  and  act  as  they 
please.  A  porter  shows  them  into  the  room,  and 
they  retire  from  it  when  they  please,  and  without 
ceremony.  At  their  first  entrance,  they  salute 
me,  and  I  them,  and  as  many  as  I  can  talk  to,  I 
do.  What  pomp  there  is  in  all  this,  I  am  unable 
to  discover.  Perhaps  it  consists  in  not  sitting. 
To  this,  two  reasons  are  opposed  :  first,  it  is  un- 
usual ;  secondly,  which  is  a  more  substantial  one, 
because  I  have  no  room  large  enough  to  contain  a 
third  of  the  chairs  which  would  be  sufficient  to 
admit  it.  If  it  is  supposed  that  ostentation,  or 
the  fashions  of  courts  (which,  by  the  by,  I  believe 
originate  oftener  in  convenience,  not  to  say  neces- 
sity, than  is  generally  imagined),  gave  rise  to  this 
custom,  I  will  boldly  affirm  that  no  supposition 
was  ever  more  erroneous  ;  for,  if  I  were  to  give 
indulgence  to  my  inclinations,  every  moment  that 
I  could  withdraw  from  the  fatigue  of  my  station 
should  be  spent  in  retirement.  That  it  is  not, 
proceeds  from  the  sense  I  entertain  of  the  pro- 
priety of  giving  to  every  one  as  free  access  as 
consists  with  that  respect  which  is  due  to  the 
chair  of  government ;  and  that  respect,  I  conceive, 
is  neither  to  be  acquired  nor  preserved  but  by 


24  WORDS   OF   WASHINGTON. 

observing  a  just  medium  between  much  state  and 
too  great  familiarity. 

Similar  to  the  above,  but  of  a  more  sociable 
kind,  are  the  visits  every  Friday  afternoon  to 
Mrs.  Washington,  where  I  always  am.  These 
public  meetings,  and  a  dinner  once  a  week  to  as 
many  as  my  table  will  hold,  with  the  references  to 
and  from  the  different  departments  of  state,  and 
other  communications  with  all  parts  of  the  Union, 
are  as  much  if  not  more  than  I  am  able  to 
undergo ;  for  I  have  already  had,  within  less  than 
a  year,  two  severe  attacks,  the  last  worse  than  the 
first.  A  third,  more  than  probably,  will  put  me 
to  sleep  with  my  fathers.  At  what  distance  this 
may  be  I  know  not.  Within  the  last  twelve 
months  I  have  undergone  more  and  severer  sick- 
ness than  thirty  preceding  years  afflicted  me 
with. 

To  DAVID  STUART,  June  15, 1790.    10  Sparks,  99. 

15.  WASHINGTON  AS  A  LANDLORD. 

ROM  long  experience  I  have  laid  it  down 
as  an  unerring  maxim,  that  to  exact 
rents  with  punctuality  is  not  only  the 
right  of  the  landlord,  but  that  it  is  also 
for  the  benefit  of  the  tenant  that  it  should  be  so, 
unless  by  providential  and  uncontrollable  events 
the  latter  is  rendered  unable  to  pay  them.  In 
such  cases,  he  should  not  only  meet  with  indul- 
gence, but  in  some  instances  with  a  remittal  of 
the  rent.  But  in  the  ordinary  course  of  these 
transactions,  the  rents  ought  to  be  collected  with 
the  most  rigid  exactness,  especially  from  my 


PRESIDENT   OF   THE  UNITED  STATES.       25 

tenants,  who  do  not,  for  most  of  the  farms,  pay  a 
fourth  of  what  the  tenements  would  let  for  if 
they  were  now  in  my  possession.  If  it  is  found 
difficult  for  a  tenant  to  pay  one  rent,  it  is  more 
difficult  for  him  to  pay  two.  When  three  are  due 
he  despairs,  or  cares  little  about  them  ;  and  if 
they  run  to  a  greater  number,  it  is  highly  prob- 
able, that,  to  avoid  paying  any,  he  will  leave  you 
the  bag  to  hold.  For  these  reasons,  except  under 
the  circumstances  before  mentioned,  it  is  my  de- 
sire that  you  will  give  all  the  tenants  timely 
notice  that  you  will  grant  no  indulgences  beyond 
those  allowed  by  the  covenants  in  the  leases.  If 
they  find  you  strict,  they  will  be  punctual;  if 
otherwise,  your  trouble  will  be  quadrupled,  and 
I  can  have  no  dependence  upon  my  rents,  which 
are  now  my  principal  support. 

To  ROBERT  LEWIS,  October  15, 1791.    10  Sparks,  198. 

16.   ADVICE  TO  A  YOUNG  ORPHAN  NIECE. 

CCUPIED  as  my  time  now  is,  and  must 
be  during  the  sitting  of  Congress,  I  never- 
theless will  endeavor  to  inculcate  upon 
your  mind  the  delicacy  and  danger  of 
that  period  to  which  you  are  now  arrived  under 
peculiar  circumstances.  You  are  just  entering 
into  the  state  of  womanhood,  without  the  watch- 
ful eye  of  a  mother  to  admonish,  or  the  protecting 
aid  of  a  father  to  advise  and  defend  you ;  you 
may  not  be  sensible  that  you  are  at  this  moment 
about  to  be  stamped  with  that  character  which 
will  adhere  to  you  through  life  ;  the  consequences 
of  which  you  have  not  perhaps  attended  to,  but  be 


26  WORDS   OF  WASHINGTON. 

assured  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  you 
should. 

Your  cousins,  with  whom  you  live,  are  well 
qualified  to  give  you  advice  ;  and  I  am  sure  they 
will,  if  you  are  disposed  to  receive  it.  But,  if  you 
are  disobliging,  self-willed,  and  untowardly,  it  is 
hardly  to  be  expected  that  they  will  engage  them- 
selves in  unpleasant  disputes  with  you,  especially 
Fanny,  whose  mild  and  placid  temper  will  not 
permit  her  to  exceed  the  limits  of  wholesome  ad- 
monition or  gentle  rebuke.  Think,  then,  to  what 
dangers  a  giddy  girl  of  fifteen  or  sixteen  must  be 
exposed  in  circumstances  like  these.  To  be  under 
but  little  or  no  control  may  be  pleasing  to  a  mind 
that  does  not  reflect,  but  this  pleasure  cannot  be  of 
long  duration ;  and  reason,  too  late  perhaps,  may 
convince  you  of  the  folly  of  misspending  time. 
You  are  not  to  learn,  I  am  certain,  that  your 
fortune  is  small.  Supply  the  want  of  it,  then, 
with  a  well-cultivated  mind,  with  dispositions  to 
industry  and  frugality,  with  gentleness  of  manners, 
an  obliging  temper,  and  such  qualifications  as 
will  attract  notice,  and  recommend  you  to  a  happy 
establishment  for  life. 

You  might,  instead  of  associating  with  those 
from  whom  you  can  derive  nothing  that  is  good, 
but  may  have  observed  everything  that  is  deceit- 
ful, lying,  and  bad,  become  the  intimate  companion 
of,  and  aid  to,  your  cousin  in  the  domestic  con- 
cerns of  the  family.  Many  girls,  before  they  have 
arrived  at  your  age,  have  been  found  so  trust- 
worthy as  to  take  the  whole  trouble  of  a  family 
from  their  mothers  ;  but  it  is  by  a  steady  and  rigid 


PRESIDENT   OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.      27 

attention  to  the  rules  of  propriety  that  such  confi- 
dence is  obtained,  and  nothing  would  give  me  more 
pleasure  than  to  hear  that  you  had  acquired  it. 
The  merits  and  benefits  of  it  would  redound  more 
to  your  advantage  in  your  progress  through  life, 
and  to  the  person  with  whom  you  may  in  due  time 
form  a  matrimonial  connection,  than  to  any  others  ; 
but  to  none  would  such  a  circumstance  afford  more 
real  satisfaction  than  to  your  affectionate  uncle. 

To  HARRIOT  WASHINGTON,  October  30,  1791. 
10  Sparks,  201. 

17.    UPON   THE   ESTRANGEMENT    OF   JEFFERSON  AND 
HAMILTON. 

OW  unfortunate,  and  how  much  to  be 
regretted  is  it,  then,  that,  while  we  are 
encompassed  on  all  sides  with  avowed 
enemies  and  insidious  friends,  internal 
dissensions  should  be  harrowing  and  tearing  our 
vitals  !  The  latter,  to  me,  is  the  most  serious,  the 
most  alarming,  and  the  most  afflicting  of  the  two ; 
and  without  more  charity  for  the  opinions  and  acts 
of  one  another  in  governmental  matters,  or  some 
more  infallible  criterion  by  which  the  truth  of  spec- 
ulative opinions,  before  they  have  undergone  the 
test  of  experience,  are  to  be  forejudged,  than  has 
yet  fallen  to  the  lot  of  fallibility,  I  believe  it  will  be 
difficult,  if  not  impracticable,  to  manage  the  reins 
of  government,  or  to  keep  the  parts  of  it  together ; 
for  if,  instead  of  laying  our  shoulders  to  the  ma- 
chine after  measures  are  decided  on,  one  pulls  this 
way  and  another  that,  before  the  utility  of  the 
thing  is  fairly  tried,  it  must  inevitably  be  torn 


28  WORDS   OF  WASHING  Toy. 

asunder ;  and  in  my  opinion,  the  fairest  prospect 
of  happiness  and  prosperity  that  ever  was  pre- 
sented to  man  will  be  lost  perhaps  forever. 

My  earnest  wish  and  my  fondest  hope,  therefore, 
is,  that,  instead  of  wounding  suspicions  and  irri- 
tating charges,  there  may  be  liberal  allowances, 
mutual  forbearances,  and  temporizing  yieldings  on 
all  sides.  Under  the  exercise  of  these,  matters 
will  go  on  smoothly,  and,  if  possible,  more  pros- 
perously. Without  them,  everything  must  rub; 
the  wheels  of  government  will  clog ;  our  enemies 
will  triumph,  and,  by  throwing  their  weight  into 
the  disaffected  scale,  may  accomplish  the  ruin  of 
the  goodly  fabric  we  have  been  erecting. 

I  do  not  mean  to  apply  this  advice,  or  these  ob- 
servations, to  any  particular  person  or  character. 
I  have  given  them  in  the  same  general  terms  to 
other  officers  of  the  government ;  because  the  dis- 
agreements which  have  arisen  from  difference  of 
opinions,  and  the  attacks  which  have  been  made 
upon  almost  all  the  measures  of  government,  and 
most  of  its  executive  officers,  have  for  a  long  time 
past  filled  me  with  painful  sensations,  and  cannot 
fail,  I  think,  of  producing  unhappy  consequences 
at  home  and  abroad. 

To  THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  Secretary  of  State,  August  23, 1792. 
10  Sparks,  280. 

18.  THE  SAME  SUBJECT. 

1FFERENCES  in  political  opinion  are  as 
unavoidable,  as,  to  a  certain  point,  they 
may  be  necessary ;  but  it  is  exceedingly 
to  be  regretted  that  subjects  cannot  be 


PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.      29 

discussed  with  temper  on  the  one  hand,  or  de- 
cisions submitted  to  without  having  the  motives 
which  led  to  them  improperly  implicated  on  the 
other;  and  this  regret  borders  on  chagrin,  when 
we  find  that  men  of  abilities,  zealous  patriots,  hav- 
ing the  same  general  objects  in  view,  and  the  same 
upright  intentions  to  prosecute  them,  will  not  ex- 
ercise more  charity  in  deciding  on  the  opinions 
and  actions  of  one  another.  When  matters  get 
to  such  lengths,  the  natural  inference  is,  that  both 
sides  have  strained  the  cords  beyond  their  bearing, 
and  that  a  middle  course  would  be  found  the  best, 
until  experience  shall  have  decided  on  the  right 
way,  or  (which  is  not  to  be  expected,  because  it  is 
denied  to  mortals)  there  shall  be  some  infallible 
rule  by  which  we  could  forejudge  events. 

Having  premised  these  things,  I  would  fain  hope 
that  liberal  allowances  will  be  made  for  the  politi- 
cal opinions  of  each  other ;  and,  instead  of  those 
wounding  suspicious  and  irritating  charges  with 
which  some  of  our  gazettes  are  so  strongly  im- 
pregnated, and  which  cannot  fail,  if  persevered  in, 
of  pushing  matters  to  extremity,  and  thereby  tear- 
ing the  machine  asunder,  that  there  may  be  mu- 
tual forbearance  and  temporizing  yielding  on  all 
sides.  Without  these,  I  do  not  see  how  the  reins 
of  government  are  to  be  managed,  or  how  the 
Union  of  the  States  can  be  much  longer  preserved. 

How  unfortunate  would  it  be,  if  a  fabric  so 
goodly,  erected  under  so  many  providential  cir- 
cumstances, and  in  its  first  stages  having  acquired 
such  respectability,  should,  from  diversity  of  sen- 
timents, or  internal  obstructions  to  some  of  the 


30  WORDS  OF   WASHINGTON. 

acts  of  government  (for  I  cannot  prevail  on  my- 
self to  believe  that  these  measures  are  as  yet  the 
deliberate  acts  of  a  determined  party),  be  brought 
to  the  verge  of  dissolution.  Melancholy  thought ! 
But,  at  the  same  time  that  it  shows  the  conse- 
quences of  diversified  opinions,  when  pushed  with 
too  much  tenacity,  it  exhibits  evidence  also  of  the 
necessity  of  accommodation,  and  of  the  propriety 
of  adopting  such  healing  measures  as  may  restore 
harmony  to  the  discordant  members  of  the  Union, 
and  the  governing  powers  of  it. 

I  do  not  mean  to  apply  this  advice  to  any  meas- 
ures which  are  passed,  or  to  any  particular  char- 
acter. I  have  given  it  in  the  same  general  terms 
to  other  officers  of  the  government.  My  earnest 
wish  is,  that  balsam  may  be  poured  into  all  the 
wounds,  which  have  been  given,  to  prevent  them 
from  gangrening,  and  from  those  fatal  conse- 
quences which  the  community  may  sustain  if  it  is 
withheld. 

To  ALEXANDER  HAMILTON,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
August  26,  1792.     10  Sparks,  283. 

19.  PUTTING  IT  TO  THE  TEST. 

LIKELY  young  man  in  Alexandria,  of 
the  name  of  Turner,  has  been  strongly 
recommended  to  me  for  an  ensigncy.  It 
is  said,  among  other  things  in  his  favor, 
that  a  number  of  young  country-born  men  would 
enlist  under  him.  I  have  answered,  Let  him  as- 
certain that  fact,  and  then  apply  with  the  list  of 
them. 

To  HENRY  KNOX,  Secretary  of  War,  September  24, 1792. 
10  Sparks,  249. 


PRESIDENT   OF   THE   UNITED  STATES.       31 
20.  HAMILTON  AND  JEFFERSON  AGAIN. 

REGRET,  deeply  regret,  the  difference  in 
opinions,  which  have  arisen  and  divided 
you  and  another  principal  officer  of  the 
government ;  and  I  wish  devoutly  there 
could  be  an  accommodation  of  them  by  mutual 
yieldings. 

A  measure  of  this  sort  would  produce  harmony 
and  consequent  good  in  our  public  councils.  The 
contrary  will  inevitably  introduce  confusion  and 
serious  mischiefs  ;  and  for  what  1  Because  man- 
kind cannot  think  alike,  but  would  adopt  different 
means  to  attain  the  same  ends.  For  I  will  frankly 
and  solemnly  declare,  that  I  believe  the  views  of 
both  of  you  to  be  pure  and  well  meant,  and  that 
experience  only  will  decide,  with  respect  to  the 
salutariness  of  the  measures  which  are  the  sub- 
jects of  dispute.  Why,  then,  when  some  of  the 
best  citizens  in  the  United  States,  men  of  dis- 
cernment, uniform  and  tried  patriots,  who  have 
no  sinister  views  to  promote,  but  are  chaste  in 
their  ways  of  thinking  and  acting,  are  to  be  found, 
some  on  one  side  and  some  on  the  other  of  the 
questions  which  have  caused  these  agitations, 
should  either  of  you  be  so  tenacious  of  your  opin- 
ions as  to  make  no  allowances  for  those  of  the 
other  ?  I  could  and  indeed  was  about  to  add 
more  on  this  interesting  subject,  but  will  forbear, 
at  least  for  the  present,  after  expressing  a  wish 
that  the  cup  which  has  been  presented  to  us  may 
not  be  snatched  from  our  lips  by  a  discordance  of 
action,  when  I  am  persuaded  there  is  no  discord- 
11 


32 


WORDS   OF    WASHINGTON. 


ance  in  your  views.  I  have  a  great,  a  sincere  es- 
teem and  regard  for  you  both,  and  ardently  wish 
that  some  line  may  be  marked  out  by  which  both 
of  you  could  walk. 

To  THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  Secretary  of  State,  October  18, 1792. 
10  Sparks,  306. 


2L  HIS  GUIDING  PRINCIPLE  AS  PRESIDENT. 


ONLY  wish,  whilst  I  am  a  servant  of 
the  public,  to  know  the  will  of  my 
masters,  that  I  may  govern  myself  ac- 
cordingly. 

To  EDMUND  PENDLETON,  September  23, 1793. 
10  Sparks,  371. 


22.  UPON  AN  IMPROVED  THRESHING-MACHINE. 

HE  model  brought  over  by  the  English 
farmers  may  be  a  good  one,  but  the  util- 
ity of  it  among  careless  negroes  and  ig- 
norant overseers  will  depend  absolutely 
upon  the  simplicity  of  the  construction  ;  for,  if 
there  is  anything  complex  in  the  machinery,  it 
will  be  no  longer  in  use  than  a  mushroom  is  in 
existence.  I  have  seen  so  much  of  the  beginning 
and  ending  of  new  inventions,  that  I  have  almost 
resolved  to  go  on  in  the  old  way  of  treading,  un- 
til I  get  settled  again  at  home,  and  can  attend 
myself  to  the  management  of  one.  As  a  proof  in 
point  of  the  almost  impossibility  of  putting  the 
overseers  of  this  country  out  of  the  track  they 
have  been  accustomed  to  walk  in,  I  have  one  of 


PRESIDENT   OF   THE  UNITED  STATES.      33 

the  most  convenient  barns  in  this  or  perhaps  any 
other  country,  where  thirty  hands  may  with  great 
ease  be  employed  in  threshing.  Half  of  the  wheat 
of  the  farm  was  actually  stowed  in  this  barn  in 
the  straw,  by  my  order,  for  threshing ;  notwith- 
standing, when  I  came  home  about  the  middle  of 
September,  I  found  a  treading-yard  not  thirty  feet 
from  the  barn-door,  the  wheat  again  brought  out 
of  the  barn,  and  horses  treading  it  out  in  an  open 
exposure,  liable  to  the  vicissitudes  of  weather.  I 
am  now  erecting  a  building  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  treading.  I  have  sanguine  expectations 
of  its  utility  ;  and,  if  I  am  not  deceived  in  them, 
it  may  afford  you  some  satisfaction,  when  you 
come  into  this  part  of  the  country,  to  call  and 
look  at  it. 

To  HENRY  LEE,  Governor  of  Wrginia,  October  16, 1793. 
10  Sparks,  382. 


23.  NEWSPAPERS. 

CANNOT  forbear  to  recommend  a  repeal 
of  the  tax  on  transportation  of  public 
prints.  There  is  no  resource  so  firm  for 
the  government  of  the  United  States  as 
the  affections  of  the  people,  guided  by  an  enlight- 
ened policy  ;  and  to  this  primary  good  nothing 
can  conduce  more  than  a  faithful  representation 
of  public  proceedings,  diffused  without  restraint 
throughout  the  United  States. 

Speech  to  both  Houses  of  Congress.  December  3, 1793. 
12  Sparks,  42. 


34  WORDS   OF   WASHINGTON. 

24.   RENT  OF  LAND  THEN. 

WOULD  let  these  four  farms  to  four  sub- 
stantial farmers,  of  wealth  and  strength 
sufficient  to  cultivate  them,  and  who 
would  insure  to  me  the  regular  payment 
of  the  rents ;  and  I  would  give  them  leases  for 
seven  or  ten  years,  at  the  rate  of  a  Spanish  milled 
dollar,  or  other  money  current  at  the  time  in  this 
country  equivalent  thereto,  for  every  acre  of 
ploughable  and  mowable  ground,  within  the  en- 
closures of  the  respective  farms,  as  marked  in  the 
plan ;  and  would  allow  the  tenants,  during  that 
period,  to  take  fuel,  and  use  timber  from  the 
woodland  to  repair  the  buildings,  and  to  keep  the 
fences  in  order  until  live  fences  could  be  substi- 
tuted in  place  of  dead  ones ;  but,  in  this  case,  no 
sub-tenants  would  be  allowed. 

To  ARTHUR  YOUNG,  December  12, 1793.    12  Sparks,  309. 


38.  HIS  AID  TO  THE  VICTIMS  OF  THE  YELLOW  FJSViiK 
IN  PHILADELPHIA. 

T  has  been  my  intention,  ever  since  my 
return  to  the  city,  to  contribute  my  mite 
towards  the  relief  of  the  most  needy  in- 
habitants of  it.  The  pressure  of  public 
business  hitherto  has  suspended,  but  not  altered, 
my  resolution.  I  am  at  a  loss,  however,  for 
whose  benefit  to  apply  the  little  I  can  give,  and 
in  whose  hands  to  place  it ;  whether  for  the  use 
of  the  fatherless  children  and  widows,  made  so  by 
the  late  calamity,  who  may  find  it  difficult,  whilst 


PRESIDENT  OF   THE   UNITED  STATES.      35 

provisions,  wood,  and  other  necessaries  are  so 
dear,  to  support  themselves,  or  to  other  and 
better  purposes,  if  any,  I  know  not,  and  therefore 
have  taken  the  liberty  of  asking  your  advice. 

To  WILLIAM  WHITE,  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania 
December  31,  1793.    10  Sparks,  398. 

26.  APPOINTMENTS  TO  OFFICE. 

]OEVAL  with  my  inauguration  I  resolved 
firmly  that  no  man  should  ever  charge 
me  justly  with  deception.  Abundant 
reason  I  have  had  to  rejoice  at  this  de- 
termination ;  for  I  have  experienced  the  necessity, 
in  a  variety  of  instances,  of  hardening  my  heart 
against  indulgences  of  my  warmest  inclination 
and  friendship,  and,  from  a  combination  of  causes, 
as  well  as  mere  fitness  of  character,  to  depart 
from  first  impressions  and  first  intentions  with 
regard  to  nominations ;  which  has  proved  most 
unequivocally  the  propriety  of  the  maxim  I  had 
adopted,  of  never  committing  myself  until  the 
moment  the  appointment  is  to  be  made,  when, 
from  the  best  information  I  can  obtain,  and  a  full 
view  of  circumstances,  my  judgment  is  formed. 
To  JAMES  MCHENRT,  AprU  8, 1794.  10  Sparks,  397. 

27.  PRICE  OF  WILD  LAND. 

Y  land  on  the  Ohio  and  Great  Kenhawa 
Rivers,  amounting  to  32,373  acres,  was 
once  sold  for  sixty-five  thousand  French 
crowns  to  a  French  gentleman,  who  was 
very  competent  to  the  payment  at  the  time  the 


36 


WORDS   OF    WASHINGTON. 


contract  was  made ;  but,  getting  a  little  embar- 
rassed in  his  finances  by  the  revolution  in  his 
country,  by  mutual  agreement  the  bargain  was 
cancelled.  Lately  I  have  been  in  treaty  for  the 
same  land  at  three  dollars  and  a  third  per  acre  for 
the  whole  quantity. 

To  PRESLEY  NEVILLE,  June  16,  1794.    12  Sparks,  317. 


28.  THE  PRESIDENT  IS  SARCASTIC  TOUCHING  THE 
NEWSPAPERS. 

HE    affairs   of    this    country    cannot    go 
amiss.    There  are  so  many  watchful  guar- 
dians of  them,  and  such  infallible  guides, 
that  one  is  at  no  loss  for  a  director  at 
every  turn. 
To  GOUVERJTEUR  MORRIS,  June  25,  1794.     10  Sparks,  417. 

29.  A  NATIONAL  UNIVERSITY. 

HAT  a  national  university  in  this  country 
is  a  thing  to  be  desired,  has  always  been 
my  decided  opinion. 

To  JOHN  ADAMS,  Vice-President  of  the  United  States, 
November  27, 1794.    11  Sparks,  1. 

30.  EMIGRATION. 

opinion,  with  respect  to  emigration, 
is,  that,  except  of  useful  mechanics,  and 
some  particular  descriptions  of  men  or 
professions,  there  is  no  need  of  encour- 
agement ;  while  the  policy  or  advantage  of  its  tak- 
ing place  in  a  body  (I  mean  the  settling  of  them 
in  a  body)  may  be  much  questioned;  for  by  so 


PRESIDENT   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES.       37 

doing  they  retain  the  language,  habits,  and  prin- 
ciples, good  or  bad,  which  they  bring  with  them. 
Whereas,  by  an  intermixture  with  our  people, 
they  or  their  descendants  get  assimilated  to  our 
customs,  measures,  and  laws ;  in  a  word,  soon 
become  one  people. 

To  the  same,  same  date.    11  Sparks,  2. 

31.  NO  INFALLIBLE  GUIDES. 


F  any  power  on  earth  could,  or  the  Great 
Power  above  would,  erect  the  standard 
of  infallibility  in  political  opinions,  thei'e 
is  no  being  that  inhabits  this  terrestrial 
globe  that  would  resort  to  it  with  more  eagerness 
than  myself,  so  long  as  I  remain  a  servant  of  the 
public.  But  as  I  have  found  no  better  guide  hith- 
erto, than  upright  intentions  and  close  investiga- 
tion, I  shall  adhere  to  those  maxims,  while  I  keep 
the  watch  ;  leaving  it  to  those  who  will  come  after 
me  to  explore  new  ways,  if  they  like,  or  think  them 
better. 

To  HENRY  KNOX,  September  20,  1795.     11  Sparks,  71. 

32.  UTILITY  OF  A  POTATO  CROP. 

F  all  the  improving  and  ameliorating 
crops,  none,  in  my  opinion,  is  equal  to 
potatoes,  on  stiff  and  hard  bound  land, 
as  mine  is.  I  am  satisfied,  from  a  vari- 
ety of  instances,  that  on  such  land  a  crop  of  pota- 
toes is  equal  to  an  ordinary  dressing.  In  no 
instance  have  I  failed  of  good  wheat,  oats,  or  clo- 


38 


WORDS   OF   WASHINGTON, 


ver,  that  followed  potatoes  ;  and  I  conceive  they 
give  the  soil  a  darker  hue. 

To  THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  October  4, 1795. 
12  Sparks,  321. 

33.  CABINET  APPOINTMENTS. 

N  the  appointments  to  the  great  offices 
of  the   government,   my  aim   has  been 
to  combine  geographical   situation,  and 
sometimes     other    considerations,    with 
abilities  and  fitness  of  known  characters. 

To  EDWABD  CARRINGTON,  October  9,  1796. 
11  Sparks,  78. 

34.  HE  FEARS  NO  DISCLOSURES. 

OU  are  at  full  liberty  to  publish  anything 
that  ever  passed  between  us,  written  or 
oral,  that  you  think  will  subserve  your 
purposes.  A  conscious  rectitude,  and  an 
invariable  endeavor  to  promote  the  honor,  wel- 
fare, and  happiness  of  this  country,  by  every  means 
in  the  power  of  the  Executive,  and  within  the  com- 
pass of  my  abilities,  leave  no  apprehension  on  my 
mind  from  any  disclosure  whatsoever. 

To  EDMUND  RANDOLPH,  October  25,  1795. 
11  Sparks,  87. 

35.  HIS  FOREIGN  POLICY. 

Y  policy  has  been,  and  will  continue  to  be, 
while  I  have  the  honor  to  remain  in  the 
administration,  to  maintain  friendly  terms 
with,  but  be  independent  of,  all  the  na- 


PRESIDENT  OF   THE   UNITED  STATES.      39 

tions  of  the  earth ;  to  share  in  the  broils  of  none ; 
to  fulfil  our  own  engagements;  to  supply  the 
wants  and  be  carriers  for  them  all ;  being  thor- 
oughly convinced  that  it  is  our  policy  and  interest 
to  do  so.  Nothing  short  of  self-respect  and  that 
justice  which  is  essential  to  a  national  character 
ought  to  involve  us  in  war ;  for  sure  I  am,  if  this 
country  is  preserved  in  tranquillity  twenty  years 
longer,  it  may  bid  defiance,  in  a  just  cause,  to  any 
power  whatever;  such,  in  that  time,  will  be  its 
population,  wealth,  and  resources. 

To  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS,  December  22, 1796. 
11  Sparks,  102. 

36.   THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  NOT  THE 
TREATY-MAKING  POWER. 

T  is  perfectly  clear  to  my  understanding, 
that  the  assent  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives is  not  necessary  to  the  validity 
of  a  treaty. 

Message  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  March  80, 1796. 
12  Sparks,  116. 

37.  HE  ENDEAVORS  TO  PROCURE  THE  RELEASE  OF 
LAFAYETTE. 

T  will  readily  occur  to  your  Majesty,  that 
occasions  may  sometimes  exist,  on  which 
official  considerations  would  constrain  the 
chief  of  a  nation  to  be  silent  and  pas- 
sive, in  relation  even  to  objects  which  affect  his 
sensibility,  and  claim  his  interposition  as  a  man. 
Finding  myself  precisely  in  this  situation  at  pres- 
ent, I  take  the  liberty  of  writing  this  private  letter 


40  WORDS   OF   WASHINGTON. 

to  your  Majesty,  being  persuaded  that  my  motives 
will  also  be  my  apology  for  it. 

In  common  with  the  people  of  this  country,  I 
retain  a  strong  and  cordial  sense  of  the  services 
rendered  to  them  by  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette, 
and  my  friendship  for  him  has  been  constant  and 
sincere.  It  is  natural,  therefore,  that  I  should 
sympathize  with  him  and  his  family  in  their  mis- 
fortunes, and  endeavor  to  mitigate  the  calamities 
which  they  experience ;  among  which,  his  present 
confinement  is  not  the  least  distressing. 

I  forbear  to  enlarge  on  this  delicate  subject. 
Permit  me  only  to  submit  to  your  Majesty's  con- 
sideration, whether  his  long  imprisonment,  and 
the  confiscation  of  his  estates,  and  the  indigence 
and  dispersion  of  his  family,  and  the  painful  anxie- 
ties incident  to  all  these  circumstances,  do  not 
form  an  assemblage  of  sufferings  which  recom- 
mend him  to  the  mediation  of  humanity  1  Allow 
me,  sir,  on  this  occasion,  to  be  its  organ,  and  to 
entreat  that  he  may  be  permitted  to  come  to  this 
country,  on  such  conditions  and  under  such  re- 
strictions as  your  Majesty  may  think  it  expedient 
to  prescribe. 

As  it  is  a  maxim  with  me  not  to  ask  what,  un- 
der similar  circumstances,  I  would  not  grant,  your 
Majesty  will  do  me  the  justice  to  believe  that 
this  request  appears  to  me  to  correspond  with 
those  great  principles  of  magnanimity  and  wisdom 
which  form  the  basis  of  sound  policy  and  durable 
glory. 

To  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  May  15,  1796. 
11  Sparks,  125. 


PRESIDENT   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES.       4J 
38.    NON-INTERVENTION. 

HAVE  always  wished  well  to  the  French 
revolution  ;  that  I  have  always  given  it 
as  my  decided  opinion  that  no  nation 
had  a  right  to  intermeddle  in  the  inter- 
nal concerns  of  another  ;  that  every  one  had  a 
right  to  form  and  adopt  whatever  government  they 
liked  best  to  live  under  themselves ;  and  that,  if 
this  country  could,  consistently  with  its  engage- 
ments, maintain  a  strict  neutrality  and  thereby 
preserve  peace,  it  was  bound  to  do  so  by  motives 
of  policy,  interest,  and  every  other  consideration 
that  ought  to  actuate  a  people  situated  as  we  are, 
already  deeply  in  debt,  and  in  a  convalescent  state 
from  the  struggle  we  have  been  engaged  in  our- 
selves. 

To  JAMES  MONROE,  August  25,  1796.    11  Sparks,  164. 


39.  GENERAL  EDUCATION. 

N  proportion  as  the  stnicture  of  a  gov- 
ernment gives  force  to  public  opinion,  it 
is  essential  that  public  opinion  should  be 
enlightened. 

Farewell  Address  to  the  People  of  the    United  States, 
September  17, 1796.     12  Sparks,  227. 


40.  THE  PUBLIC  CREDIT. 


HERISH  public  credit.  One  method  of 
preserving  it  is,  to  use  it  as  sparingly  as 
possible  ;  avoiding  occasions  of  expense 
by  cultivating  peace,  but  remembering 


42  WORDS   OF    WASHINGTON. 

also  that  timely  disbursements  to  prepare  for  dan- 
ger frequently  prevent  much  greater  disbursements 
to  repel  it ;  avoiding  likewise  the  accumulation  of 
debt,  not  only  by  shunning  occasions  of  expense, 
but  by  vigorous  exertions  in  time  of  peace  to  dis- 
charge the  debts  which  unavoidable  wars  may 
have  occasioned,  not  ungenerously  throwing  upon 
posterity  the  burden  which  we  ourselves  ought 
to  bear. 

The  same.    12  Sparkt,  227. 

41.   NATIONAL  ANTIPATHIES  AND  ATTACHMENTS. 

HE   nation  which   indulges   towards   an- 
other an  habitual  hatred  or  an  habitual 
fondness  is  in  some  degree  a  slave.     It 
is  a  slave  to  its  animosity  or  to  its  affec- 
tion, either  of  which  is  sufficient  to  lead  it  astray 
from  its  duty  and  its  interest.     Antipathy  in  one 
nation  against  another  disposes  each  more  readily 
to   offer  insult  and  injury,  to  lay  hold  of  slight 
causes  of  umbrage,  and  to  be  haughty  and  intracta- 
ble, when  accidental  or  trifling  occasions  of  dis- 
pute occur.     Hence  frequent  collisions,  obstinate, 
envenomed,    and    bloody   contests.     The    nation, 
prompted  by  ill-will  and  resentment,   sometimes 
impels   to  war  the  government,  contrary  to   the 
best    calculations    of    policy.      The    government 
sometimes  participates  in  the  national  propensity, 
and  adopts  through   passion  what  reason  would 
reject ;  at  other  times,  it  makes  the  animosity  of 
the  nation  subservient  to  projects  of  hostility  in- 
stigated by  pride,  ambition,  and  other  sinister  and 
pernicious  motives.     The  peace  often,  sometimes 


PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       43 

perhaps  the  liberty,  of  nations  has  been  the  vic- 
tim. 

So,  likewise,  a  passionate  attachment  of  one 
nation  for  another  produces  a  variety  of  evils. 
Sympathy  for  the  favorite  nation,  facilitating  the 
illusion  of  an  imaginary  common  interest,  in  cases 
where  no  real  common  interest  exists,  and  infusing 
into  one  the  enmities  of  the  other,  betrays  the 
former  into  a  participation  in  the  quarrels  and 
wars  of  the  latter,  without  adequate  inducement 
or  justification.  It  leads  also  to  concessions  to 
the  favorite  nation  of  privileges  denied  to  others, 
which  is  apt  doubly  to  injure  the  nation  making 
the  concessions ;  by  unnecessarily  parting  with 
what  ought  to  have  been  retained ;  and  by  excit- 
ing jealousy,  ill-will,  and  a  disposition  to  retaliate, 
in  the  parties  from  whom  equal  privileges  are  with- 
held. And  it  gives  to  ambitious,  corrupted,  or 
deluded  citizens  (who  devote  themselves  to  the 
favorite  nation)  facility  to  betray  or  sacrifice  the 
interests  of  their  own  country  without  odium, 
sometimes  even  with  popularity  ;  gilding,  with  the 
appearances  of  a  virtuous  sense  of  obligation,  a 
commendable  deference  for  public  opinion,  or  a 
laudable  zeal  for  public  good,  the  base  or  foolish 
compliances  of  ambition,  corruption,  or  infatuation. 

As  avenues  to  foreign  influence  in  innumerable 
ways,  such  attachments  are  particularly  alarming 
to  the  truly  enlightened  and  independent  patriot. 
How  many  opportunities  do  they  afford  to  tamper 
with  domestic  factions,  to  practise  the  arts  of  se- 
duction, to  mislead  public  opinion,  to  influence  or 
awe  the  public  councils  !  Such  an  attachment  of  a 


44 


WORDS  OF  WASHINGTON. 


small  or  weak  towards  a  great  and  powerful  nation 
dooms  the  former  to  be  the  satellite  of  the  latter. 
The  same.     12  Sparks,  229. 

42.  OUR  TRUE  FOREIGN  POLICY. 

HE  great  rule  of  conduct  for  us,  in  regard 
to  foreign  nations,  is,  in  extending  our 
commercial  relations,  to  have  with  them 
as  little  political  connection  as  possible. 

The  same.     12  Sparks,  231. 
43.  NATIONS  GRANT  NO  FAVORS. 

HERE  can  be  no  greater  error  than  to  ex- 
pect or  calculate  upon  real  favors  from 
nation  to  nation.  It  is  an  illusion  whicli 
experience  must  cure,  which  a  just  pride 


ought  to  discard. 


The  same.     12  Sparks,  233. 


44.  A  MILITARY  ACADEMY. 

OWEVER  pacific  the  general  policy  of  a 
nation  may  be,  it  ought  never  to  be  with- 
out an  adequate  stock  of  military  knowl- 
edge for  emergencies. 

Speech  to  both  Bouses  of  Congress,  December  7,  1796. 
12  Sparks,  71. 


HIGH  SERVICE  SHOULD  BE  JUSTLY  COMPENSATED. 

HE  compensations  to  the  officers  of  the 
United  States,  in  various  instances,  and 
in  none  more  than  in  respect  to  the  most 
important  stations,  appear  to  call  for  legis- 


PRESIDENT  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES.      45 

lative  revision.  The  consequences  of  a  defective 
provision  are  of  serious  import  to  the  government. 
If  private  wealth  is  to  supply  the  defect  of  public 
retribution,  it  will  greatly  contract  the  sphere 
within  which  the  selection  of  characters  for  office 
is  to  be  made,  and  will  proportionally  diminish  the 
probability  of  a  choice  of  men  able  as  well  as  up- 
right. Besides  that  it  would  be  repugnant  to  the 
vital  principles  of  our  own  government  virtually 
to  exclude,  from  public  trusts,  talents  and  virtue, 
unless  accompanied  by  wealth. 

The  same.    12  Sparks,  72. 

46.  PRICE  OF  LAND  IN  VIRGINIA. 

1ITHIN  full  view  of  Mount  Vernon,  sepa- 
rated therefrom  by  water  only,  is  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  seats  on  the  river  for 
sale,  but  of  greater  magnitude  than  you 
seem  to  have  contemplated.  It  is  called  Belvoir, 
and  belonged  to  George  William  Fairfax,  who, 
were  he  living,  would  now  be  Baron  of  Cameron, 
as  his  younger  brother  in  this  country  (George 
William  dying  without  issue)  at  present  is,  though 
he  does  not  take  upon  himself  the  title.  This 
seat  was  the  residence  of  the  above-named  gentle- 
man before  he  went  to  England,  and  was  accom- 
modated with  very  good  buildings,  which  were 
burnt  soon  after  he  left  them.  There  are  near 
two  thousand  acres  of  land  belonging  to  the  tract, 
surrounded  in  a  manner  by  water.  The  mansion- 
house  stood  on  high  and  commanding  ground ;  the 
soil  is  not  of  the  best  quality,  but  a  considerable 


46  WORDS   OF   WASHINGTON, 

part  of  it,  lying  level,  may,  with  proper  manage- 
ment be  profitably  cultivated.  There  are  some 
small  tenements  on  the  estate,  but  the  greater 
part  thereof  is  in  wood.  At  present  it  belongs  to 
Thomas  Fairfax,  son  of  Bryan  Fairfax,  the  gen- 
tleman who  will  not,  as  I  said  before,  take  upon 
himself  the  title  of  Baron  of  Cameron.  A  year  or 
two  ago,  the  price  he  fixed  on  the  land,  as  I  have 
been  informed,  was  thirty-three  dollars  and  a  third 
per  acre. 

To  SIR  JOHN  SINCLAIR,  December  11,  1796. 
12  Sparks,  327. 

47.  UPON  LEAVING  THE  PRESIDENCY. 

SHOULD  be  very  unhappy  if  I  thought 
that  my  relinquishing  the  reins  of  gov- 
ernment would  produce  any  of  the  con- 
sequences which  your  fears  forebode.  In 
all  free  governments,  contentions  in  elections  will 
take  place,  and,  whilst  it  is  confined  to  our  own 
citizens,  it  is  not  to  be  regretted  ;  but  severely 
indeed  ought  it  to  be  reprobated,  when  occasioned 
by  foreign  machinations.  I  trust,  however,  that 
the  good  sense  of  our  countrymen  will  guard  the 
public  weal  against  this  and  every  other  innova- 
tion, and  that,  although  we  may  be  a  little  wrong 
now  and  then,  we  shall  return  to  the  right  path 
with  more  avidity.  I  can  never  believe  that 
Providence,  which  has  guided  us  so  long  and 
through  such  a  labyrinth,  will  withdraw  its  pro- 
tection at  this  crisis. 

To  JONATHAN  TRUMBULL,  March  3,  1797. 
11  Sparks,  191. 


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